Indiana Commission for Higher Education

Productivity Implementation

Reaching Higher, Achieving More (RHAM) is organized around student success by “creating efficient pathways and incentives for completion of degrees and certificates, promoting productivity to safeguard affordability, and attaining a standard of academic quality that ensures Indiana’s college credentials are universally recognized for their rigor and value.”

With respect to Productivity, far too many Hoosiers have to finance their higher education through large amounts of student debt or personal investment. In Indiana, we have calculated that an additional year of college costs $50,000 or more in tuition, lost wages and related costs. The strategic plan calls for policies and innovations to help students graduate in less time and at a lower cost. Key successes under the Productivity section include:

Performance Funding. Institutions developed a mission-differentiated metric to measure their own productivity which is incorporated into the performance funding formula.

Credit Creep. State law now limits credit requirements in programs to 120 credits for a bachelor’s degree and 60 credits for an associate degree in most cases. Two years after enactment, Indiana colleges have flipped from 90 percent of programs exceeding this standard to 90 percent meeting it – with an annual student savings of $35 million.

Transfer and Articulation 1) General Education Core of 30 credits that transfer seamlessly among Indiana’s public institutions are in effect as of Fall 2013. 2) Single Articulation Pathways of 60 credits that transfer seamlessly among Indiana’s public institutions will be in effect in Fall 2015.

Student Incentives. Following an integration of state financial aid into the Commission, recipients of financial aid will now be required to complete 24 credits per year and will be rewarded for completing 30 or more effective Fall 2013. Students also receive additional financial aid for pursuing accelerated programs.

College Cost Transparency. The Commission continues to work to improve college cost transparency through the use of Learn More Indiana’s Indiana College Costs Estimator and through the collection and publication of cost per degree and debt-load data from the institutions.